Does a Theory-of-Value Add Value? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Tanzanian Entrepreneurs

Rajshree Agarwal (), Francesca Bacco (), Arnaldo Camuffo (), Andrea Coali (), Alfonso Gambardella (), Haji Msangi (), Steven Sonka (), Anna Temu (), Betty Waized () and Audra Wormald ()
Additional contact information
Rajshree Agarwal: Department of Management and Organizations, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
Francesca Bacco: Department of Management and Organisation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands
Arnaldo Camuffo: Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, 21036 Milan, Italy; and ION Management Science Lab, Bocconi and Utah University, 21036 Milan, Italy
Andrea Coali: ION Management Science Lab, Bocconi and Utah University, 21036 Milan, Italy
Alfonso Gambardella: Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, 21036 Milan, Italy; and ION Management Science Lab, Bocconi and Utah University, 21036 Milan, Italy
Haji Msangi: Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture, Gashora, Bugesera, Rwanda
Steven Sonka: Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois 61822
Anna Temu: Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
Betty Waized: Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
Audra Wormald: Strategy and Entrepreneurship Area, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599

Organization Science, 2025, vol. 36, issue 2, 601-625

Abstract: Entrepreneurs making decisions under uncertainty are encouraged to evaluate their initial ideas through hypothesis testing, but entrepreneurial approaches vary in their emphasis on ex-ante theory development prior to collecting evidence. In this paper, we examine whether and how entrepreneurs benefit from adopting an evidence-based approach or a theory-and-evidence-based approach to decision making. We conducted a field experiment with Tanzanian agribusiness entrepreneurs by randomly assigning entrepreneurs to two different training conditions. We find that entrepreneurs in the theory-and-evidence–based condition have higher economic performance during the observation period following the intervention. We conjecture this result stems from differences in the types of changes enacted: entrepreneurs in the theory-and-evidence–based training make more coordinated changes that encompass both core and operational elements of their business models.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; experimentation; scientific approach; strategy formation; theory-based view; developing contexts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.17590 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:36:y:2025:i:2:p:601-625

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().